The application of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS)/fast-track surgery in gastrectomy for gastric cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

// Jie Ding 1,* , Benlong Sun 1,* , Peng Song 1 , Song Liu 1 , Hong Chen 1 , Min Feng 1 and Wenxian Guan 1 1 Department of General Surgery, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, 210008 China * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Min Feng, email: // Wenxian Guan, email: // Keywords : enhanced recovery after surgery, fast-track surgery, gastric cancer, conventional care, meta-analysis Received : November 24, 2016 Accepted : March 10, 2017 Published : June 20, 2017 Abstract Background: The study aimed to compare the safety and effectiveness of Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) with conventional care in gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Methods: Search strategy from Pubmed, Embase, Web of science, Cochrane library and reference lists was performed. The collected studies were randomized controlled trials and published only in English, and undergoing ERAS in gastrectomy for gastric cancer from January 1994 to August 2016. Results: A total of eight studies including 801 patients were included. There were 399 cases in the ERAS and 402 cases in the conventional care groups. Meta-analysis showed that time to first passage of flatus (weighted mean difference (WMD) -14.57; 95% confidence interval (CI) -20.31 to -8.83, p 0.05). Conclusions: ERAS is considered to be safe and effective in gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Further larger, multicenter and randomized trials were needed to beresearched.